Broken Pasts by C. M. Stunich

“Can I ask you another question?” I threw over my
shoulder.
    “ Yes,
Ms. McMaster,” he replied, still and silent in his brown suit
and black loafers.
    “ Is
it normal for a security officer to talk about his penis?”

 
    CHAPTER 9
    Rhea
and I stayed home from work and school the next day. I was already
having a hard enough time trying to explain Nathaniel's absence and
Cedric's sudden appearance to the inquisitive nine year old. I
didn't want to explain it to anyone else. Once I got her occupied on
the couch with a book, Cedric and I sat at the dining table and
talked. Unlike Nathaniel, all I had to do was invite him and he sat
down and started to spill.
    “ Nate
and I started this business about … ” Cedric paused to
rub at his chin. “Oh, about nine years ago. I was never
really into it, but I'm big and tough, so all I really have to do is
stand there and the bad guys run.” He chuckled and his laugh
shook the table and the vase of flowers on it. In a way, he kind of
reminded me of Hagrid from the Harry Potter books. Maybe because
that was the first thing Rhea had said when she'd seen him.
“Besides, Gillian had just passed away and that put a fire
under his ass like I'd never seen.”
    “ Gillian?”
I asked, intrigued. This was it, I knew it. The key to
understanding Nathaniel's mysterious actions was in this woman's
name. Cedric looked around like he expected Nathaniel to be lurking
around the corner.
    “ Gillian
was Nathaniel's wife,” he said and then took a big breath,
filling his massive chest with air. “You look quite a bit like
her actually.” A frown pulled down the corners of my mouth
like they were weighted. Oh. Wow. I am an idiot. Nathaniel's
mystery was that I looked like his dead wife. Great. That explained
the flirting and the sexual innuendo from moment one then. The sexy
bodyguard didn't seem so intriguing anymore, like I had just peeled
away his layers and could see right through him. But then, what
about the hatred in his eyes when he looked at Gary? The way his
face shut down after you asked about his job?
    “ How
did she die?” I asked and Cedric shook his head, pushing away
from the table and standing up like he'd just realized what he was
doing.
    “ I'm
sorry, Ms. McMaster,” he told me as he tried to revert back to
being serious. “That isn't my information to give.” I
tapped my fingers on the table and then sighed. Oh well. With
my mystery all but solved, all that was left was to try and get some
work done before Nathaniel came back and I headed off for family
bowling night with a complete stranger.
    I
stood up, retrieved my laptop and joined Rhea in the living room.
When I checked my e-mail, I was shocked. Hundreds of new messages
cluttered my inbox with subjects like, Missing You Everyday and What I Want to Do To You. I slammed the top shut and tried to
breathe. Cedric didn't react like Nathaniel, almost like he was
trying too hard to stay invisible. He stayed frozen in the corner
while I resisted the urge to throw my computer across the room.
    “ I
have a ton of inappropriate e-mails from Gary,” I told Cedric
and he nodded, like that was to be expected.
    “ Save
them, print them, and document them,” he told me and I was
overwhelmed with this horrible sense of helplessness. Being stalked
is like being trapped in your own life. There's this person out
there doing all of these horrible things to you and there is nothing
you can do about it. With a sigh, I put my laptop aside and ran a
hand down my face. Gary's behavior was escalating. How far would he
go before enough was enough? Would he try to hurt me? Rape me?
Kill me? I shivered and stood up suddenly.
    “ Hey,”
I said to Rhea with a silly smile. “Why don't we pick out our
clothes for this evening?” She shrugged her shoulders, more
interested in Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander than she was in
placating her mother.
    “ That's
far away,” she said as she turned on her side and kept her eyes
glued to the